Have a Meal Before You Go

< Lifetime masterpiece >

Cheolho headed for the furnace behind the rice restaurant. The hearth used to be handmade from clay and stone occasionally, and most recently used to eat sea lamb.

After a while, Chulho, who saw the fireplace, thought that he wanted to bake meat with a cotton candy.

“Let me see.”

I come into the rice coop and look through the drawer where I kept the charcoal. We're out of charcoal.

Call the columns and light the fires and it'll be a simple solution.But you won't be able to keep up with the flavor of charcoal baked properly.

“Hmm.......”

Then it's no big deal.

Let's go buy some charcoal.

* * *

A vacancy a little further from Seodaemun Market.

There is a dome-shaped earthen kiln in the void, and nearby is constantly rising.

The world is getting colder by the fall, but it's always summer there.

It's where Park's grandfather's work room makes charcoal.

Charcoal is harder to make than you think.

First, charcoal is made by burning wood.

First dry the wood to make good charcoal. When I went to Mr. Park's workshop, I saw trees full of empty spaces. Dry the well-trimmed logs like that and bake them.

Yeah, a dome-shaped earthen kiln is a charcoal kiln.

Chulho used to come here sometimes when he needed good charcoal. Park was wiping his sweaty forehead with a cigarette in his mouth as always.

At the entrance of the slightly opened charcoal kiln, a very pale flame was raging.

When making charcoal, the wood is filled with kilns, blocked the entrance, and then set on fire to prevent oxygen interruption.

The opening means that the time has come for oxygen to be injected and heated last, i.e. charcoal to come out.

At that time, the flame burns beautifully with all its last strength.

Chulho suddenly opened his mouth when he saw the fire.

“Sir.”

“Oh, it's you. ”

Park welcomed Chulho. Chulho sat on a small chair in front of the charcoal kiln.

“When does it come out? ”

“Time to take it down. ”

Park stood up with his crooked waist and shouted.

“Children, remove the charcoal! ”

Around the workshop, a group of hard-working woodcutters flourished.

Then he began to pull out the charcoal one by one from the hot charcoal kiln with his claw. The charcoal is cooled by the soil prepared immediately after. They do that kind of work over a very long period of time.

There was a time when charcoal was also made in the factory. However, nowadays it was very thankful that someone was making charcoal that was hard to expect such a new type of equipment.

Chulho smiles and greets.

“Then I'll come back later tonight. It's charcoal day. Do you need a drink? ”

“I hope so.”

Park smiled and replied. His smiling face was filled with wrinkles.

Ambitious.

Chulho, who finished selling the rice bowl, whistled to the workshop.

The charcoal kiln was running out of charcoal, and the fire was still burning. Park sat there staring at the flames.

“Oh, there you are. ”

“Yes.”

Whenever I come here, I always bring something.

First, pork belly.

Especially today, I bought the highest grade of pork belly in Kingpin. It was the best raw meat I had just slaughtered. Chulho grinned and held out the plastic bag in his hand.

“Charcoal value. ”

Secondly, you can't get rid of the booze.

Park liked the shipmaster.

The ferocious Chinese liquor and hot charcoal kiln didn't actually look good together, so I sometimes brought rice wine, but I didn't really like it.

I used to mutter like a habit of saying, "I feel like I have to eat hot because my insides are always cold."

Chulho took out a large jar of water.

Then I took out a pack of cigarettes from my chest.

“Smoke.”

“It's old school, huh? ”

“The old guard is a prestigious man. ”

A pack of old cigarettes painted by a camel peeled off and asked Park for a cigarette. Chulho lit a fire with a lighter.

“Bake it?”

“Sure."

Cheolho brings a long shovel.

The length of the shovel is quite long.

To push it inside that furnace. The shovel was fairly large and flat, and Chulho chopped the pork belly of the king pin and placed it on top of the shovel.

Then I took out the tears of the sea and shoveled a lot of salt on the shovel.

With pork belly on top of the shovel, Cheolho sees a furnace still full of heat.

Pick up the shovel and carefully go there. And just like that, he pushes the shovel into the furnace.

Tata, Tata, Tata!

Park used to laugh, "Charcoal workers like us live for this kind of fun."

The temperature in the kiln is over 1,000 degrees.

It's okay to enter bare bodies, but ordinary creatures can't withstand that temperature and die.

The same is true of trees. It burns endlessly on fire and eventually becomes very hard charcoal.

Of course it's the same with iron. There's not much we can do in front of a fire like that.

Park has been through a period of turbulence.

Ever since I was very young.

He has gained a lot and has lost a lot. Through the flames of that uproar, perhaps he had become charcoal.

After about 10 seconds of thinking like that, Chulho pulled out a shovel.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock!

The pork belly that was on the shovel was baked in just 10 seconds. Oil burns over meat. The fire perfected the pork belly.

Chulho took a shovel and went to Park. Park poured out a large plate made of silver foil and poured it into it.

Play nice.

Alternatively, the slightly burnt pork belly was transferred to a dish while being covered with zipped oil on the surface.

Chulho reached out his chopsticks. And I followed two big glasses of poisonous liquor.

“You're so unusual. ”

Park opened his mouth with a glass given to him by Chulho.

“Unusual?”

“Not like the young people these days. Sometimes I feel like a child, but at some point I feel like a friend. ”

“Hmm, I see. ”

Cheolho grips the vessel.

And I took a very ripe pork belly and put it in my mouth. The surface was cooked to a very tasty degree on rough fire. Roasted pork belly filled with juice for a very short time.

Chewing makes teeth dig up meat and spills out hot juice. Chewing meat with a mollusk is a delicious flavor in the watery region.

The 'tears of the sea’, which were well absorbed in the surface with the gold painting, were salty but also enhanced the natural taste of the pig.

Cheolho ate a few little pork bellies.

“I've got to stop doing this. ”

Suddenly Park said.

“Quit? ”

“Do you know? There are many different kinds of trees. ”

Park poured liquor into one mouth and chewed pork belly.

“There are a lot of oak trees, oak trees, oak trees, and the like. Each tree has its own unique scent. It has its own characteristics and uses. ”

Park rubbed his eyes.

“I think I've spent too much time with those trees. The world is changing, generations are changing, and so am I. ”

“Hmm……"

Chulho looks at that burning coal furnace and waits for the next horse.

“My master says charcoal burners should not change. Charcoal is such a hassle to make. First we have to wait. We set up the trimmed log, we wait for the water to dry, we put it in the oven, we wait, we block the entrance, we hit the fire, we wait, we pull the charcoal out of the vibrant furnace, we wait, we pull it out again.......”

He pours another glass of wine.

“I've lived a lifetime of waiting. But the wives and children who left first never come back. ”

“....... ”

Age of Pain. Chulho blinked his eyes and drank liquor.

“My teacher said, don't change in the process of boring waiting. Waiting is hard. It's easy to change. ”

Suddenly Park smiled.

“But that's how I've lived my whole life. You think this is enough? ”

This is an unexpected development.

Cheolho frowns, his head tilting.

“Yes?”

“No, you must have made enough money....... to do this. Yeah, I've lived long enough. I'm thinking of living my life for once. What do you think? ”

Park's words gradually energized me. Chulho glances at him and nods.

“Of course, of course. ”

“Do you think the old man is a Clumsy Man? ”

“What does age have to do with finding your own life? ”

“Isn't that right?"

“Yes, if you did, I think you have the right to enjoy the life that you've always wanted, no matter what anyone says. ”

“Hahaha!”

Park smiled as if he was having fun. Then he tapped the shoulder of the helmet.

“Anyway, it's fun. I took out the next charcoal and decided to leave the coffin. I made up my mind.”

Cheolho smiled.

“I see.”

“Yes! Now that I've met all kinds of trees, I'm going to meet all kinds of people. What do you think?”

“Fantastic.”

Park took two glasses of liquor and breathed out loud.

“I'm going to make one last masterpiece of my life. This is the greatest masterpiece of my 70 years! If it comes out like that, I'll give it to you. ”

Chulho listens to him and thinks.

I wanted to give my charcoal master a lifetime of craftsmanship to bake charcoal all his life.

Wait.......

Cheolho suddenly glittered.

“By any chance...”

* * *

Park got drunk and returned home, leaving only a few people in his workshop. They were almost all Park's disciples.

Cheolho came out of the workshop and entered a rare alleyway nearby, opening up the subspace.

“Steelho, who has become ordinary now...... No, thank you, right? ”

Qasim was alive again today. He was covered in gold.

“Oh, is this a gold storehouse? ”

A golden warehouse.

He sent the Demon King back to the Magic System, and Chulho received an immense amount of gold and silver from the Empire. It reminded me of a vague refusal, so I stuck it somewhere in the subspace.

“Well, that's just it. ”

Chulho thought about it and asked.

“How many worlds are left in subspace? ”

“World number...... wait a minute. ”

Kasim disappears into space. I'll see you in a minute. The protruding one opened his mouth.

“There's one tree in the world and seven bridges. Thirteen of the dead trees that you recovered when you were planting the World Water Plant. ”

“Hmm?"

Cheolho blinked his eyes and greeted.

“Was it?”

“Oh dear, don't you remember the number of worlds in the Elven Forest? You planted the seedlings at the end of the age of the world's waters. ”

“Ah.”

Now I remember.

At that time, the Elven Forest was in trouble.

The water of the world protecting the forest was questioned. Thanks to him, Chulho, who was passing by, finally planted his World Water Seed.

“Do you remember how many times there were dimensional gaps in the Elven Forest, sometimes when little elves went missing? ”

“Ah, I was. ”

Chulho nods, stealing his nose.

“Thirteen dead, by the way? ”

“Yes.”

“Bring it. ”

Qasim looks up at Zec, who disappears. Thirteen logs protrude from the sub-space. It was as if the snake was vomiting its prey.

The size of the tree is no bigger than I thought. It was a well-trimmed log roughly two meters long. I didn't see a single toll that was said to be very dry.

Qasim asked through the trees.

“Steelho, I've packed the leaves and stems of the world water separately. Do you want that, too?”

“That's fine. Good work.”

“Yep!"

The next day.

Park found dry logs placed neatly in the workshop.

“You want me to make charcoal out of this? ”

“Yes.”

Chulho nods. Park tilted his head and touched the tree. I smelled it and looked at the cutting edges to check the wood trim.

“What kind of stuff is this? I've never seen you before in my life. ”

“I've never seen it before. That's why I'm asking you. Can you do it?”

Park thought for a moment and then nodded.